Youth hoops attracts giants and moms

Of all the television commercials featuring sports stars these days, one of my favorites is Shaquille O’Neal explaining his strategy for coaching youth league basketball.

Just the idea of O’Neal — at 7-feet, 1-inch and 325 pounds with a size 20 shoe — towering over a bunch of little kids who can barely see past his kneecaps is mind-blowing. But apparently that’s one of the things he’s doing now in his retirement.

And he teaches them what he calls the “Rah” defense. That is, if a kid on the opposing team has the ball, he encourages his five little minions to surround him and scream “Rah!” The poor kid is so flustered, he says, that the ball goes flying in the air into the hands of a baby Shaqster.

I’m not sure how much of that strategy is used by the Temecula Youth Basketball Leagues, but it really doesn’t matter. As long as the kids are having fun and getting exercise, James Naismith’s game, no matter how it’s played, has served its purpose.

This year, Temecula Youth Basketball Leagues is celebrating its 25th anniversary. At least, that’s what they think.

“It may have been around a few years earlier, but that’s pretty close,” said Laurie Krempin, who’s been connected to the leagues for 20 of those years. She started as a mom, whose two sons and a daughter played in the leagues, and then as a coach. She eventually presided over the board of directors for many years and headed the Middle School League. She’s seen plenty of changes in those years, but she said one constant has been watching the kids have a good time.

“If you watch the little ones, they’re like kids running around on happy wheels,” Krempin said. “It’s really fun and a wonderful way to meet people and get involved.”

All former board members are invited to attend a 25th year reunion party at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Community Recreation Center, 30875 Rancho Vista Road in Temecula.

For those who don’t know much about the Temecula Youth Basketball Leagues, it’s open to all boys and girls in kindergarten through eighth grades. It’s a nonprofit group run by volunteers. The only ones who get paid are the officials and timekeepers.

And it’s referred to as the youth “leagues” because it also includes competitive divisions in middle school basketball — something that the local school districts don’t offer. Those leagues require tryouts, which have just recently gotten under way. Teams are found in Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, Lake Elsinore and Perris.

Visit www.tybl.org for more information.

In the two decades in which Krempin has been involved, the group has grown right along with the cities it serves. She remembers there were maybe 400 young hoopsters in the early 1990s, and that number has more than doubled since then. Games are played at the Community Recreation Center in Temecula and at many area schools.

Of course, the program would be nowhere without its volunteers — its board members, coaches and parents who all have devoted valuable time and money to keep the leagues going. The select group has included just about anyone you can imagine, from city leaders and teachers to young moms and dads who are just getting their feet wet in parenthood, and life.

And if a youth basketball league is good enough to attract a hulking, 15-time All Star and former Most Valuable Player in the National Basketball Association, there must be something attractive about it. The one thing that Shaquille O’Neal and Laurie Krempin have in common is that they have both coached youth league teams.

“For me, coaching was the most fun and an amazing part of it all,” Krempin said. “It’s fun to work with the kids.”

That’s why she, and everyone else connected with the Temecula Youth Basketball Leagues, deserve a very big “Rah!” and a lot more.